China vs Japan vs New York

redrabbit29

I'm asking a pretty big question here. Just wondering what you would recommend regarding a trip to china, or japan or new york. I'm 23 and my gf is 24. I was watching around the world in 80 days and China and Japan looked really interesting.

I've always had a big interest in New York but never been there.

Any opinions on each of these places. Again, I know I'm asking a BIG question.

poe.tuesday

I have been to all 3 places

New York - amazing place, safe and interesting but can be done on a short break - I would say 4 nights min for this city, can get flights for about £250 each and accommodation ranges depending on your budget, you can get city breaks for about £400 each - when you are there it can be as cheap or as expensive as you want it to be

China - vast country - can do tours over 10 days which include the main sights including the terracota warriors, great wall, forbidden palace and the three gorges cruise, not that easy to do independantly - you can get a good 10 day tour with someone like VJV for under £1500 each (this gives you everything you need, tours, guides, food etc), you can do longer tours too which offer a wide range of sights to see, again VJV are good - China is cheap when you get there but this depends on where you go

Japan - easy to get around, can do it independantly and it is much cheaper to do it by yourself than with a tour company, 12 day tours including flights etc are usually wll over £3000 each, you can get flights from about £350 each depending on what time of year you go (I would recommend spring or autumn, spring is probably best as the cherry blossoms are all out - this is a very special time in Japan) - accommodation - again, thsi can vary, you can get traditional places to stay from about £30 each to good quality hotels which cost anything from £100 upwards - eating out can be very expensive but if you stick to the set menus you can each cheaply - if you go with this option - go for at least 3 weeks, this will give you enough time to get to the main sights etc

If I have the choice - it would be Japan then China then New York

Japan is geared up for tourism, loads to see and do, a real culture shock

China - still developing, wonderful ancient sights - still cheap for what you get but harder to do independantly

New York - fab city but can't be compaired to the other two places as it's a different type of holiday, this place is not going to change, you can get their cheaply and only need to do short stays

You have to weigh up your budget against the time you have, then do you want it all sorted for you or DIY

have fun

cundall

poe.tuesday wrote: »

If I have the choice - it would be Japan then China then New York

Same order for myself though saying that, i did love China...

Why not do China and Japan if you have time.? I have taken the boat from China to Japan and rather go direct back to China i went via South Korea.

poe.tuesday

cundall wrote: »

Same order for myself though saying that, i did love China...

Why not do China and Japan if you have time.? I have taken the boat from China to Japan and rather go direct back to China i went via South Korea.

nice idea cundall to do the two, nice to see the two in compairson back to back

re china - there are some festivals that take place such as the ice festival, if this takes your fancy then research what is happening when - my ideal trip would be the trans syberian from russia through to china (with a china tour) then onto Japan - you would need 3 months I reckon to get the most of it but you could do it in a month if you were pushed, the train takes 10 days form what I recal to get to china

redrabbit29

My budget isn't very big to be honest, so from the sounds of it, New York is the cheapest option of them all. I've wanted to go to new york for about 10 years now, maybe I should settle on that.

Although someone said something like, it's about $100 a night for a hotel in new york? Is that true?

Any websites that you would recommend for deals to new york? When is the best time to go?

poe.tuesday

have a look at the new york forum on here, it has loads of info, there is also a trad about cheap accommodation, you are still going to spend about 400 on flights and cheap hotel each and then you have to pay to get out and about and eat, it is a fab city but one you would like to have some money for as the sights that you would want to see will cost and it does all add up, if it's a place you have always wanted to see then you will probably want to do all the sights too? I would have thought, for it to be a holiday that you get everything that you want from it you will spend at least £700 each and that will be for 3 nights and doing it on the cheap (ish), where as a 14 day tour of China all in will cost you £1300 each, check out:

http://www.vjv.co.uk/destinations/far-east/china/discover-china/index.html

you need to wiegh up what you get for your money, day for day - new york is an expensive option in comparison to the china tour

nelly_2

Newyork left me underwhelmed tbh

I have been to china twice and its fantastic

Might be going to tokyo this summer

Infidel

redrabbit29 wrote: »

My budget isn't very big to be honest, so from the sounds of it, New York is the cheapest option of them all. I've wanted to go to new york for about 10 years now, maybe I should settle on that.

Although someone said something like, it's about $100 a night for a hotel in new york? Is that true?

Any websites that you would recommend for deals to new york? When is the best time to go?

If you're just after a 'shopping holiday' (New York) with the option of some Asian culture too, why not go to Hong Kong?

I think you can still get pretty good flight deals there.

cundall

Infidel wrote: »

If you're just after a 'shopping holiday' (New York) with the option of some Asian culture too, why not go to Hong Kong?

I think you can still get pretty good flight deals there.

Plus you get cheap flights (oasis) then get a bus / train to the main land (i walked / bus / subway onto the mainland and had a great time) IE china.

cundall

If you travel around china its cheap though Japan can be if you plan a head.

Talking about the Ice festival (Harbin) i would go if i could it looks great. I went to Harbin from Dandong (correct spelling?) which i got to from Korea. Don't trust the guide books as 99.9% of the LP was wrong for remote china (it was the latest version at th time).

Harbin is a great place to see in winter or summer plus not many english

redrabbit29

Is it cheap in Hong kong for food, accomodation, drinks, shopping, etc...?

Who would you book with? I did a quick search for Hong Kong, looks quite interesting, and fairly cheap on expedia in early September for 7 days.